


Lost Boys

by dragongrrl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Eventual Smut, Fluff, Flying, M/M, Post-Canon, Probably happy ending, Zeus is a DICK, godly punishment, ineffable godly punishment, shit happens, some language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 03:30:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4332189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragongrrl/pseuds/dragongrrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-canon AU (AU type to be tagged/revealed when revealed in the story)<br/>Solangelo & Zeus's wrath & butterflies & a twist :3<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Flame

"-ill! WILL!" 

Will groaned as a voice above him roused him from his nap on the fl- wait a sec, the floor? 

He looked up, disoriented, and his eyes slowly focused on the mess of black hair floating above him. Oh Gods, this headache might rival what Zeus felt when Athena was created and his body felt like it had just gone through a stint holding the sky up. 

"...Ni...Nico? Wha-?" 

Nico's expression was scrunched and he was blinking furiously, which confused Will almost as much as waking up on the floor. What was the son of hades- well, maybe he should back track a bit and figure out why he was napping on the floor first. 

"Will... you... are you alright? You just... burst into light? And then you collapsed on the floor." 

Nico sounded as confused as Will felt, which would be saying something right now. Memories came trickling back. The infirmiry. Nico. Sword match? 

Doctor's Orders. Right. 

Will shakily got to his feet, holding his excruciating head in one hand. Burst into light? He'd never had any control over light before... 

...well. He supposed his light bulb impression and subsequent collapse weren't exactly controlled, but the point remained. And speaking of which, why was there so much pain? 

"Sunshine, snap out of it! You're freaking me out, and that's saying something," Nico said with a familiar scowl adorning his face. 

Will smirked at the nickname. One and a half years since the war, and him and Nico had become very close... friends? Will tried to hang out with Nico more often outside the company of the sick and wounded, yet Nico was in the infirmiry again, THIS time for a sprained wrist due to another over-competitive sword match with Jason.

"You worried, Death Boy? I wish I knew what happened," Will said, but then his grin faded into a worried frown.

"I've never had any light abilities before..." 

Nico grabbed his hand, which sent a pleasant tingle up his arm and helped him clear his head a little more. Will started to feel a lot better, until he saw the deep frown on Nico's face. 

"Will... you're a little closer to death than you were before the attack. What exactly-?" 

"IthinkI'minlovewithyou." 

What the hell was that? What the FUCKING HELL was that? Where did that... why did that just come out of his mouth? I mean it was probably maybe the truth but he never said anything because Nico is his friend and he probably doesn't like Will like that and now Nico hates him ugh why did he say... 

Just then Kayla burst into the room.  
(Fun Fact: the same room Nico recovered in after the war, and the room that had become known as the Hades Hospital to the other amused healers in Apollo's cabin. Nico told Will they should just call it Hell)

"Will!" She gasped, seeming to be in a similar state of weakness and confusion as Will. 

"Will, everyone in the Apollo cabin... we... just... collapsed after bursting into light. And all the patients in the infirmary... they're fully healed..." 

Kayla then sank to the ground shakily singing Edelweiss from The Sound of Music. Odd, Will thought. Kayla didn't really sing that often. 

Will ran out of the Hades Hospital and into the main infirmary (dragging a very bewildered Nico by the hand with him) to see former patients helping the Apollo healers into cots and onto chairs as the healers slowly roused from their collapse. The irony of the situation almost made up for the grevity. Will was about to let go of Nico to go check on his siblings when a searing pain filled his body and everything went white. 

\-----------------  
NICO 

Nico was still processing what Will had said to him when he was abrubtly towed out of the room. Will... had... feelings for the son of Hades? The skeletal butterflies in his stomach were throwing a windstorm in his mind, making it impossible to think straight (hah). When Will collapsed a second time, Nico was dragged to the ground by the hand he was still holding. All of a sudden his vision was blinded by light coming from Apollo's children collapsed around the infirmiry. Nico closed his eyes against the blaze, but it was only getting brighter to the point where even behind eyelids, his eyes felt like they were being burned to a crisp. It wasn't only his eyes... his hand, still clutching Will's, was starting to burn. Nico made to wrench it out of Will's hand but before he could do so everything went black. 

He opened his eyes to behold an empty, dream-like grayness surrounding him. Well, almost empty.

"Nico di Angelo. My brother... and I... require your assistance."


	2. The Fuse

Nico turned to see Artemis standing before him.

"Lady Artemis?... What-?"

"There is a new threat to demigods. Camp Half-Blood and New Rome will be terminated if you refuse to comply. We need you to-"

The moment Artemis mentioned a potential new threat, something inside Nico snapped. 

"No."

"Excuse me?" Artemis's voice had gone cold and harsh, but Nico was finding it hard to care about any potential goddess-level threats. It's not like SHE would turn him into a plant at least. Probably a forest animal to hunt later, but still. Not a damn daffodil. 

"No. You heard me." Bitter thoughts were screaming in Nico's mind, vying to be spat at one/twelfth of the source of most of his problems (cough the olympians cough). 

"I am so TIRED of fixing the gods' messes; the broken shit they leave lying around for their children to clean up. YOU deal with you own damn problems this time! Destroy your monsters! Make them disappear with your godly power, which funny enough, is vastly greater than the power any of the gods' children possess! First it was my mother, then Bianca, Leo for about 2 months before he came back, and it was almost me too! I almost DIED transporting a dumb statue halfway around the world for the sake of peace, and if it weren't for-"

"William Solace? He in particular, among countless others will perish should you refuse to help. I do not ask for unsolvable crises, child. Hear me out before you pass such judgement on all the Olympian Gods and Goddesses." 

Oh...  
...  
...  
...Shit. 

Dread pooled in Nico's gut, replacing his anger (which was far less now than it had been after the Titan War anyways). Not Will. Not his... uhm.. friend?... whatever labels are confusing anyway. Wait a sec... he gave Artemis a questioning look.

"How did you know about my-- I mean how did you know I care- err, who told-?" 

"Apollo had been... inspired by the growing friendship between you both. There have been a few forced poetry nights for my hunters. Mostly about you and Will... " She explained with an almost pitying expression.

And that wasn't even the crisis she came to warn him about. Fuck. 

"But now Apollo has been taken away to be punished for his oracle's prophecy and for his involvement with Octavian. Monsters are harder to slay when they are the King of Gods... and my own father."


	3. The Bomb

Nico watched Artemis as the goddess stared into the murky void around them, seemingly expressionless. It was.... well, odd to see similar resentment Jason had with Zeus, only with his half-sister goddess. 

"The punishment my father has chosen for Apollo is... indescribably cruel. Quite literally, ineffable in any mortal tongue. However, I will do my best to impart some understanding.

Imagine Apollo's children. They are half mortal, but half god- his blood. Their godly powers are directly tied to Apollo & everything he stands for- music, light, truth, healing, etc... While their individual powers grow and develop as separate from my brother's, they are still connected through paternal bonds and as parts of a whole.

Zeus is torturing Apollo with no regard for these bonds. He is doing something... similar to wringing out a towel, but far more sickening. Every part of Apollo's existance is slowly being torn from his godhood- his powers and everything he stands for. It is extremely painful, but only temporary because the powers should eventually find their way back to him... probably.

These powers, however, cannot simply be discarded, left to exist without ties to any beings, or utilized by another being due to their essense-like nature. So, like a firehose being used to fill waterballoons, they are... 'chased'... into Apollo's offspring, who are capable of holding such power. But most of his offspring are half-mortals, unable to hold the powers for very long without... violently exploding, like nuclear bombs."

Nico was horrified, though some things started to make more sense. That explained the light bursts, Kayla's singing, the healing of the patients, and (butterflies in his stomach again) Will's confession... A thought suddnely occurred to him, something he heard Annabeth say when she was tutoring him in history before she left for New Rome. 

"Wait... didn't Apollo have to spend time as a mortal once? Where did his powers go then?" 

"That was merely a temporary, yet strong... 'lock' on his powers. This violates his very existance and would destroy all his demigod children. Which comes to why I chose to speak with you.

I need you to shadow-travel as many of my brother's children to the underworld as possible. Understand that this is not to save their lives, but the lives of those residing in the camps. The underworld atmosphere will buy time and slow the transfer of power, though Apollo will suffer all the more because of it. Take them to the underworld so the other demigods might be safe, whilst I search for anything that will save my brother's children."

Nico frowned. It was too much, but he'd do whatever it took to buy Will more time... oh and save the camps. Bringing a bunch of demigods to the underworld though...

"Okay, but I need to ask my fath-" 

"You must leave now," Artemis said urgently, cutting Nico off.  
"I sense you are currently dying."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dundundun EXPLANATIONS. Actual action and moving and fighting and stuff will happen next chapter
> 
> Kudos & Comments much appreciated <3
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfic! Constructive criticism welcome. Super sparkly invisible kudos to whomever figures out the special AU first :3 (sorry but there's no major hints as far as I can tell in the first chapter)


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